Feel horrible on CPAP

[Oceangirl]

My sleep apnea makes me extremely tired. It has been several months since my last time trying to use a CPAP machine. This is my 4th attempt and after a few days on it the same exact thing happens. I wake up extremely dizzy, lightheaded, anxious, my legs feel numb, I feel very disorientated and the feeling lasts the entire day. I can only liken it to the feeling when you get too much oxygen and breathe in too quickly and feel like you’re going to pass out. I feel like that all day. I also feel this uncomfortable energy like tingling zaps in my body I can’t get rid of. Like more energy in my body than I can handle or like my skin is crawling and it’s so uncomfortable. The anxiety is so bad when I wake up in this state. I feel so off. This has happened every single time I use the machine after a few days. All I hear is how great people feel on CPAP but I feel horrible.

I am supposed to have my air at 4-5 but I put it to 3 because the higher air makes that feeling even worse and happen sooner. My events are 2-3 but last night they were 6.7. I had no leak. Other days i had 10 percent leak and less incidents so I don’t know why but I woke up with that horrible feeling I get when I use CPAP today. I never feel like this or this bad not using the machine I just feel extremely tired and have a headache.

Can anyone explain these strange horrible feelings I get using a CPAP machine?

[Julie]

Hi, ok, can you please give model name (not just brand name) of which machine you have? And what mask?

I'm not sure what you mean by "my air at 4-5"... are you referring to "My Air" the display app that shows you info, or your pressure settings? Because settings of 4-5 would make anyone feel bad and make no sense as therapy pressures.

And I know you're tired, but we really need more info so can you download Oscar (see http://cpaptalk.com/wiki/index.php/Oscar:organize) and post results in this thread please so they can be interpreted and suggestions made for possible changes. If you have trouble, come back here and describe the problems.

[LSAT]

My sleep apnea makes me extremely tired. It has been several months since my last time trying to use a CPAP machine. This is my 4th attempt and after a few days on it the same exact thing happens. I wake up extremely dizzy, lightheaded, anxious, my legs feel numb, I feel very disorientated and the feeling lasts the entire day. I can only liken it to the feeling when you get too much oxygen and breathe in too quickly and feel like you’re going to pass out. I feel like that all day. I also feel this uncomfortable energy like tingling zaps in my body I can’t get rid of. Like more energy in my body than I can handle or like my skin is crawling and it’s so uncomfortable. The anxiety is so bad when I wake up in this state. I feel so off. This has happened every single time I use the machine after a few days. All I hear is how great people feel on CPAP but I feel horrible.

I am supposed to have my air at 4-5 but I put it to 3 because the higher air makes that feeling even worse and happen sooner. My events are 2-3 but last night they were 6.7. I had no leak. Other days i had 10 percent leak and less incidents so I don’t know why but I woke up with that horrible feeling I get when I use CPAP today. I never feel like this or this bad not using the machine I just feel extremely tired and have a headache.

Can anyone explain these strange horrible feelings I get using a CPAP machine?

There is no way to change your pressure to 3....4 is as low as the machine goes. Your AHI probably
increased because you lowered your pressure.

[Pugsy]

Folks.....

Some machines will go to 3 as a minimum pressure.
Some Devilbiss models will as well as the ResMed bilevel in fixed pressure mode.

[chunkyfrog]

. . .
I wake up extremely dizzy, lightheaded, anxious, my legs feel numb
. . .

This sounds exactly like a panic attack.
There is no shame in seeking professional help.

[Oceangirl]

The pressure on my machine that makes the air only goes from 0-5.

I have a Phillips Reatoronics Remstar Auto A-Flex System one.

The mask just came with the machine and says Phillips red resporonics Amara.

I do not ever have panic attacks. Only every single time I have ever used the machine after a few days I have horrible symptoms upon awaking. When I don’t use the machine it never happens. But 4 tries using the machine weeks and months apart, every single time after a few days, I’ve had to stop because I am dizzy, etc etc etc

[Pugsy]

The pressure on my machine that makes the air only goes from 0-5.

Impossible for that to be the pressure settings but highly likely they are the humidity settings.

System One machines have a minimum of 4 cm pressure and will never go below that pressure.

You might want to get the clinical manual and read up on exactly what is and isn't available on your machine and what each setting does.
You can request it via email from here.
https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap- ... tup-manual

Your complaints that you attribute to the cpap machine are highly unusual....not common at all.
You need to be talking to your doctor. There's nothing in what the cpap machine does that will cause the symptoms you are complaining of. Now why you only get those symptoms with cpap...dunno but the machine doesn't really do anything that might cause all those symptoms except for maybe a little vertigo if you have inner ear issues....so talk to your doctor.
You also need to have a better understanding about your machine in general....hence read the manual.

[Oceangirl]

It says my pressure is at 90 percent. I also do have issues with vertigo but I’m not sure why I would feel so disorientated, dizzy, hyped up and panicked. It also can last the entire day and not go away.

[Pugsy]

90 % number just mean at OR BELOW that number for 90% of the night.
The "or below" part of the definition is critical to understanding the numbers.

You need to be talking with your doctor. We have no idea what might be causing all these symptoms except for maybe the vertigo could be made worse with cpap use and that's a big maybe....it sure isn't a common problem.

[Oceangirl]

I don’t have a doctor or insurance. So I can’t really talk to anyone. This also doesn’t always happen even on the first day of retrying the machine. It will happen after 2-3 days on it every single time. My legs and arms are very numb and I’m dizzy and feel very light headed. I guess I’ll just be unable to figure this out.

[Miss Emerita]

Oceangirl, your symptoms reminded me of a post from Rick Blaine to another person with similar symptoms. Rick said it might be hyperventilation syndrome -- more here:

https://www.saintlukeskc.org/health-lib ... n-syndrome#

He also provided a link to this self-help leaflet from the British national health system:

http://www.dchs.nhs.uk/assets/public/dc ... ndrome.pdf

It might be worth trying these daytime breathing exercises to see whether they help you avoid hyperventilation at night.

[Pugsy]

Well....without a doctor it's really difficult for sure.

About all we can do is look at the data your machine gathers when you do use it and see if anything is standing out screaming as a potential cause of a problem.
Like excessive pressures or a lot of central apneas happening and maybe (stress the maybe) causing some sort of weird problem.

Get the software and post a typical night detailed report.
No guarantee it will show anything but obviously what you are thinking you are using...you are not using so the software won't mislead us.

OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

and it does sound like hyperventilation to me as well but we need to rule out something weird going on like a truckload of central apneas or something.

[Julie]

Are you taking any medication?

[chunkyfrog]

Hyperventilation--yes, that.
Causes: maybe physical or environmental.
Stress much?
I had hyperventilation from stress--they said it was panic attacks.
They stopped when my horrible boss was replaced.

[Oceangirl]

Oceangirl, your symptoms reminded me of a post from Rick Blaine to another person with similar symptoms. Rick said it might be hyperventilation syndrome -- more here:

https://www.saintlukeskc.org/health-lib ... n-syndrome#

He also provided a link to this self-help leaflet from the British national health system:

http://www.dchs.nhs.uk/assets/public/dc ... ndrome.pdf

It might be worth trying these daytime breathing exercises to see whether they help you avoid hyperventilation at night.

I do have a lot of the symptoms. When they occur it is from the moment I wake up after using CPAP. When I don’t use it I’m exhausted and have a headache but I don’t panic or feel dizzy/numb etc. I don’t know if maybe my brain is not adjusting well to having more oxygen or am not breathing right with the air blowing in my nose and face I have no idea.